Dr. Allen Mabra. Sunday May 28th, 2017.

Jesus – His Ascension

Act 1:3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.
Act 1:4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.

Act 1:5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
Act 1:6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
Act 1:7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.
Act 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Act 1:9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.
Act 1:11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

Jesus could do that. Jesus could say, “It is finished. I have done everything that God wanted me to do.”

Jhn 19:30
When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

I. WHY DID JESUS REMAIN FOR 40 DAYS ON THE EARTH?

A. First of all, “Why? Why did Jesus remain those 40 days on the earth following His resurrection? Hadn’t men hurt Him enough? Why would He stick around? And why 40 days?”

B. But I am sure that one goal Jesus had in spending those 40 days after His resurrection was to finish teaching the apostles.

He had tried to teach them again & again what was going to happen. He had told them, “I’m going to die in Jerusalem. I’m going to be buried, & on the third day be raised from the dead.”

On the last night of His life He takes them into the upper room. He breaks bread & speaks of His broken body. He shares with them the fruit of the vine, & speaks of His shed blood.

C. But when Jesus died on the cross & was buried in the tomb, His followers were completely devastated because they had forgotten what Jesus said. They forgot even though He had told them repeatedly.

Finally, it all started to sink in. Back in the 14th chapter of John, Jesus had said, “Let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also in me. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go & prepare a place for you, I will come again that where I am you may be also.”

“You know the way,” He had said. Thomas asked, “Lord, how can we know the way?” Jesus said, “I am the way & the truth & the life. And no man comes unto the Father but by me.”

D. During those 40 days Jesus appeared to them again & again, re-emphasizing the things He had already taught them. Suddenly, all of the teachings that Jesus had shared with them for 3 years began to make sense.

I. Why did Jesus need to go back to the Father

A. So the Holy Spirit could come

John 16:5
but now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’
16:6
Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things.

John 16:7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
16:8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment:
16:9 about sin, because people do not believe in me;

John 16:10
about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer;
16:11
and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
16:12
“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.
John 16:13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
16:14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you.
16:15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

1Co 6:19
Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
1Co 6:20
you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

Gal 5:22
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
Gal 5:23
gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

B. So Jesus could do His intercessory work, act as an Advocate, or Mediator

Noun Masculine — mesites — mes-ee’-tace )
lit., “a go-between” (from mesos, “middle,” and eimi, “to go”), is used in two ways in the NT, (a) “one who mediates” between two parties with a view to producing peace, as in 1 Timothy 2:5 , though more than mere “mediatorship” is in view, for the salvation of men necessitated that the Mediator should Himself posses the nature and attributes of Him towards whom He acts, and should likewise participate in the nature of those for whom He acts (sin apart);

only by being possessed both of deity and humanity could He comprehend the claims of the one and the needs of the other; further, the claims and the needs could be met only by One who, Himself being proved sinless, would offer Himself an expiatory sacrifice on behalf of men; (b) “one who acts as a gurantee” so as to secure something which otherwise would not be obtained

1Ti 2:5
For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus,
1Ti 2:6
who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.

1Jo 2:1
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
1Jo 2:2
He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

Heb 7:24
but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood.
Heb 7:25
Therefore he is able to save completelythose who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.
Heb 7:26
Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.

Heb 9:24For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence.
Heb 9:25 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own.
Heb 9:26 Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.
But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,
Heb 10:13
and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool.
Heb 10:14
For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

Heb 10:15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:
10:16 “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”
10:17 Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.
10:18And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.
Job 9:30
Even if I washed myself with soap and my hands with cleansing powder,
:31
you would plunge me into a slime pit so that even my clothes would detest me.
.32
“He is not a mere mortal like me that I might answer him, that we might confront each other in court.

Job 9:33
If only there were someone to mediate between us, someone to bring us together,
Job 9:34
someone to remove God’s rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more.
Job 9:35
Then I would speak up without fear of him, but as it now stands with me, I cannot.

Job 19:25
I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth.Job 19:26
And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God;
Job 19:27
I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!

Eph 2:12
remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
Eph 2:13
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.